Haiti to the United Nations. Ambassador Tanin expressed the sympathy and solidarity of the government and people of Afghanistan, as well as the personal sympathy of President Karzai, with the government and people of Haiti as they struggle to recover from the devastating earthquake of 12 January 2010.

Ambassador Tanin said that despite the difficulties that Afghanistan itself currently faces, Afghanistan has answered the appeal of the Secretary-General and has donated a sum of $200,000 to the Emergency Relief Response Fund operated through the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). He reiterated that the Government of Afghanistan has a unique understanding of how difficult reconstruction can be and, when even basic necessities are missing, how much help even a small donation can provide. Ambassador Tanin expressed the hope that Afghanistan’s donation could help provide the Haitian people with some of those necessities.